March 2021 - Seed Starters

I've been bumping into a lot of references to seeds in the past days.  Of course, some of this is because it is that time of year to consider gardening by starting at the beginning: a seed.

Across our region, seed starters are stepping into the rhythm of life. 

I've felt that rhythm in the songs of birds this past week, a spring song - hopeful and yearning for a mate and new life - their way of planting seeds for the future. 

I've sensed that rhythm in the drip and flow of water.  Recently frozen, solid, and quiet but for our steps creaking upon it - now moving downhill and into the ground and atmosphere.  

I've watched that rhythm in the wind as it clears the air, awakens trees, and lifts our once-buried winter debris, spinning it down the sidewalks.

And I've imagines that in the rhythm of connecting with neighbors, especially a small group of Kingfield 'radicals' seeking to bring more "community building" to our community, we are being seed starters.

The 100 Days of Community being organized this year started as a seed from a group of Kingfield neighbors who had been involved in caring for and feeding unhoused people camping in Martin Luther King Jr park last summer.   That experience exposed the loose and missing strands of our city's safety net while bringing to light the abundance and deep generosity of our neighborhood.  As a group, it was clear to us that there is not a lack of resources nor a lack of will to care for each other.  However, there are many barriers and entrenched systems that continue to get in our way to distribute resources and provide care equitably.  

With the upcoming trial of former police officer Chauvin, the wounds of last summer are being reopened, and with them the pain, and with that pain, the need to provide room to feel the hurt and to bring healing.  George Floyd's murder may indeed be a seed that grows a movement for justice and anti-racist work here and across the world.  

And so, like gardeners we work the soil and gather seeds, preparing for growth. And so, like gardeners we trust our seeds will bring a harvest that will feed our very soul.  

The 100 Days of Community Campaign in Kingfield is really just a way to prepare the soil of our neighborhood to grow more justice and equity.   We're pulling some weeds and rocks out of our community-soil by offering education, training, and support.   We're adding nutrients to this community-soil through our shared connections and growing awareness.  Our shared tears may be well considered as necessary moisture for this soil.   Many of the events throughout these 100 days will be the seeds of a new future together as we imagine more affordable housing opportunities, more community support responses in place of policing, more food security, more equitable health outcomes, and more ways everyone can feel welcome living, visiting, or working in our neighborhood.  As we strengthen our contacts within our own blocks and work to knit our blocks together, we see a harvest of a strong, welcoming community. 

All of a life is contained within a single seed. So much possibility.  May we walk the paths within our garden community together - to provide the best soil we can for these seeds.